Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1887-01-28
BEET'RU U.s.

BEE7R U.s.
"Beetrus jenkins 2" called the owner Of
the name, sending her high clear voic,
through the boxed space which served a,
post-oflice window.
"Yesm,' responded the postmaster will
that joking freedom which adds so mucl
spice to the life Of general-store keeper al
a South Illinois railroad station "Thre,
letters this time He's writing nearly every
day
1T wears on you to keep track of my cor
respondence, don't il - affirmed the girl
taking her letters and rendng them open
with inpatient forehnger. They were al
addressed, in the same mercantile hand, t.
Miss Beatrice jenkins, Wabash Station
Illinois. She compared the dates of the
postmarks and opened the earliest, standing
by the door to read
The smoke-dimmed interior of the store
was hung with baskets dry goods bacon
ready-made clothing, and boots and shoes
skeleton fight Of steps assembled across a
background of wall to the proprietor's resi-
dence, and up this flight of steps went a
neighbors barefooted child with a coffee
pot to borrow some household necessity
while Beetrus read her mail.
She was a spot of mellow color betwixt
enclosure. The slim, long fingered hand,
holding her letters were nicely gloved Her
white hat was covered with plumes lust
owning the salmon-pink tint of her small
wooden shawl Her dress was neutral and
unobtrusive Not 50. however. were her
black eyes and glowing cheeks, or the dark
hair clustering to her ears. She was very
pretty girl, and this the station master al
ways mentally admitted. He came out of
his post-oilice cubby with the mail bag in
his hand
80 you're going 10 clear out today, Bee -
She glanced up, perceptibly starting and
coloring
Coin 10y rail or 10y river -
ooh ,' said Beetrus Yes. we're going
up the river. Our things are packed on the
Whde DOre. We'd have To 20 so far around
and pay much freight the other way.
But don't like to 90 ON freight boat, and
neither does ma, though the men are Just
as Kind and clever as they can he. We
have to sit up on deck all night too, among
the machinery and grease
Yes. you will. It's twelve hours run
betwixt this and New Harmony against the
| current The white DOre starts about three
o'clock. Will You he down any during the
winter Z"
Il guess not. Our man and his wife can
tend to everything on the farm We never
do run back and forth any after cold wealth
er sets in. -
And suppose you'll put the time in
dancin' an takin' music lessons =
1T isn't very lively in Harmony but
I'm going on with my music That isn't
! the train p
Yes, it is, responded the station mas
ter, swinging the mailbag as he walked
|
the black and kissing locomotive sliding to
its brief pause.
Beetrus flew through the store, ran down
the back steps, and sheltered herself in the
woods which stretched away towards the
Wabash. Swift as her exit was, she hardly
escaped the eye of young man who swung
himself off the train, sample case in hand
| His face twinkled humorously which it
could very well do, being a pleasant nous
tached face in spite of the marks of dissi-
patton it bore. His trim dress and brisk air
bespoke the prosperous commercial traveller
He went indoors and swept a business
| like glance around before the train steamed
away therefore, by the time the station
master had put up the mail and served one
or two customers, he had satisfactory or
| der written out, and professed himself ready
to mount the next train, for which he would
have to wait quite two hours.
''Oh, you know how to put the time in. "
said the station master, las long as we have
any pretty girls left in the neghborhood.
The drummer smiled out of the back door
at huddle of two or three cabins and
board huts, as if the capacity of such
place for producing pretty girls was too CON
temptible joke for him to NEEDLE with
He said he guessed he would 90 down to the
landing and see if he couldn't get skif a
while.
Betty Jenkins will be down that way"
suggested the station master She was in
here minute ago"
Ran from me, said the drummer.
I'D kind of advise her to, if she hadn't"
said the stationkeeper
What's the objection to me = laughed
the drummer; I'm only good gray sin
ner. They'll have to dip me several times
more before I'm as black as you South Hi
nois Egyptians
'Old lady Jenkins will have a crow to
pick with you, though, if she happens to
drop ON to all these letters and walks"
You undertake too much, said the drum
mer, shaking his head with gentle persua-
siveness. The store and post office and
station and the neighborhood will accumu-
late, and he too many for you
Beetrus saw him sauntering ON her track
The blood was buzzing in her head, and she
hid herself upon pile of steep high rocks,
obeying some wild impulse of which she felt
ashamed. To follow him with her eyes and
be herself invisible was an impersonal rap
ture in which she could indulge without Civ
ing it too great advantage. Yet when he
disappeared near the river, she felt sting
ing check in her heart, and a sense of hay
ing inflicted loss and robbery upon herself
10 Beetrus he was the walking essence of
the world, representing not only its mighty
business, but its advantages of culture and
travel. She never had been from home ex-
cept to Evansville and New Harmony, and
he never staid two nights in a place, and
spoke with fatigue of his exciting life
What operas he had seen for in Beetrus's
chaotic Imagination all theatrical perform
ance was opera, and operas were the dis
tinct possessions of the wealthy
She resented with "A mixture of awe and
daring the greatness of his relatives. He
was a nephew of the head of his CONNER
cial house, and his grandfather had been
Congressman while her background was
the pioneers cabin, the pecan woods and
Wabash rocks and hills
Beetrus was the child of a shrewd though
novel-soaked mother, who had lowered
her with something more than mispro-
nOunced fine name and biassed imagina-
ton. 1t is strange TO think how large a
human mass, moving this instant in grooves
of practical action, is protesting with secret
scorn against all its conditions. Beetrus
was full of a girls unrests and eccentric
impulses. She thought she knew exactly
what she wanted for her happiness, the con
densed statement of which would have been
to have the whole globe placed in her lap,
ticketed simply, Reward of merit"
She pressed her cheek against the rock
lichens, taking a half inverted view of the
autumn tangle, and glad in spite of herself
for the pleasant breath of life. 1t was
worth while TO be part of such woods and
river vistas, and TO smell all the grounds
odors. Some little living thing ran along a
log not far from her; and she could hear a
squirrel bark, whisk and whisper of
loosened leaves as they were sent adrift
and then the dropping of nut. Strong as
the sunlight was, she shivered upon the
rocks and then felt all her blood burn, heat
and tremble.
The commercial traveller was walking
back with brisk step from the river, and
scanning every opening among the trees as
if ON the eager search. He saw Beetrus
rising and tightening her pink shawl ON her
shoulders and halted with jerk.
where have you been y was his uncer
emonious exclamation,
"Up here, reading my letters and view
ing the country"
You saw me go past, then, didn't you q
Was it you y said she, fitting her foot
deftly 10 the steep descent.